I-League 2015/16 – Salgaocar dents East Bengal's title hopes with shock win
Goals from Thongkhosiem Haokip and Calvin Mbarga gave Salgaocar their first home win of the season at the Fatorda Stadium. With this 3-1 victory, they have lifted themselves off the bottom of the table, while East Bengal are now trailing Mohun Bagan by four points, with just seven games to play.
Salgaocar FC XI: Karanjit (gk)(c); Keenan, Mbarga, Alesh, Saran; Reagan, Scott, Augustin, T.Haokip, Eder, Darryl
East Bengal XI: Barreto (gk); Mallick, Arnab (C), Rasaq, Narayan; Pradhan, Hossain, Mendy, Jairu; Ranti, Rafique
With East Bengal facing Salgaocar in the second of two back-to-back matches, manager Biswajit Bhattacharya made two changes to the side which had won 2-1 against the Goan side at the Barasat Stadium. Rahul Bheke and Abinash Ruidas were replaced by Samad Ali Mallick and Sanju Pradhan respectively.
Salgaocar, on the other hand, had faced a 1-3 defeat in the interim against Mohun Bagan at home, and Santosh Kashyap made three changes to that team. Thangjam Singh, Thongkhosiem Haokip and Calvin Mbarga came in for Gilbert Oliveira, Gurjinder Kumar and Seityasen Singh.
Salgaocar, who were in desperate need of points, made a flying start with Haokip putting them in the lead, just four minutes in the match. Darryl Duffy picked out the forward with an accurate cross from the right, which Haokip blasted past Luis Barreto in the East Bengal goal.
The home team received a heavy blow few minutes later though, as Duffy limped off the pitch after picking up an injury, to be replaced by Jackichand Singh.
In the 16th minute, Eder made a goal-line save to deny Bikash Jairu the chance to equalize, after Salgaocar's goalkeeper was beaten by a cross from Mallich on the right wing. The away team did not have to wait for long though, as their top-scorer Ranti Martins scored his ninth goal of the season in the 25th minute.
The goal arrived from a big mistake by Keenan Almeida, who tried to head the ball back to the goalkeeper while defending a cross from Mehtab Hossain. However, he headed it straight to Ranti, and calmly finished it past the goalkeeper.
A mistake at the other end 11 minutes later gave a penalty to Salgaocar, and with it, a golden chance to take back the lead. Mallick was unable to handle the pace of Jackichand and brought down the Salgaocar winger inside the box. Calvin Mbarga stepped up to take the resultant penalty, and blasted it into the top corner of the net.
East Bengal also suffered an injury blow before the end of the first half, when Bello Rasaq was replaced by Harmanjot Khabra. It disrupted the away team's momentum, and Salgaocar were able to hold on to their 2-1 lead at the break.
The Goan side dominated from the start of the second half, but Haokip missed a golden opportunity to double their lead in the 64th minute after substitute Brian Mascarenhas opened up the East Bengal defence with a delightful cross from the left.
Any hopes of East Bengal making a comeback were erased when Sehnaj Singh received a straight red for a horrible challenge on Jackichand Singh. Ironically, the midfielder was brought on in the 38th minute by Biswajit Bhattacharya, in order to protect Samad Mallick from getting a red, after he received a yellow card while conceding the penalty.
Haokip made up for his earlier miss by adding a third goal in the added time. The forward intercepted Cavin Lobo's attempted pass, and ran at the defence, before blasting it into the net.
The match ended 3-1, and East Bengal were lucky to concede just two goals, considering the amount of chances Salgaocar created in the first half. Santosh Kashyap would be delighted with his team after this win, as they produced their best performance of the season so far. East Bengal, on the other hand, will have to hope for a big slip-up from the rivals Mohun Bagan in order to have any opportunity of claiming the title.
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